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European Ocean Observing: EMODnet input to EC Consultation and European Parliament SEARICA event, 23 February 2021

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Photo Of Person Submerged On Ocean (© Pexels/Maël BALLAND - pexels.com. All rights reserved)

From Autumn 2020 to February 2021 the European Commission (DG MARE) launched a public consultation towards a common EU approach to ocean observation. The consultation took part in two phases and aimed to gather opinions on the effectiveness, efficiency and fitness for purpose of ocean observation by the EU and its member states.

The EMODnet Secretariat submitted responses to both the initial consultation on the impact assessment and the wider consultation in February 2021 (download the open document here, consultation closed 19 February 2021).

In addition, many EMODnet thematic coordinating organisations and wider partner institutes and stakeholders submitted responses, highlighting the huge and diverse collective expertise that the EMOD-network has, spanning the full pipeline of marine knowledge from data collection through ocean observing and marine monitoring, data curation and management, data services and web services for open data and data products, knowledge brokerage and end-users.

The EC Public Consultation received over 140 responses from research institutions, public authorities, international organisations, civil society, the private sector and wider stakeholders. The EC DG MARE will be assessing all feedback in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday 23 February 2021, the European Parliament InterGroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas (SEARICA) organized a webinar to bring stakeholders together and discuss preliminary feedback from the public consultation on Ocean Observation, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission and the Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions.

Find out more about the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) as a long-term, marine data initiative funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund on the EMODnet Central Portal, including its diverse data and data products, spanning seven thematic areas and hundreds of in situ parameters, all harmonized, standardsied and integrated to provide the highest resolution datasets of European seas and oceans for in situ marine environmental parameters and human activities at sea and along the coast. EMODnet, together with the Copernicus space programme (and more specifically the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, Copernicus Marine Service) and the Data Collection Framework for fisheries, implements the EU’s Marine Knowledge 2020 strategy.

Link

Public consultation towards a common EU approach to ocean observation